FAQ

Wheneverly? I don’t have a set schedule. Since this is a fancomic and not a professional endeavor I’m just squeezing it in in my spare time.

What do you use to draw the comic?

I draw the comic in Manga Studio 5 using a Monoprice tablet. I don’t use any special brushes, it’s all stuff that comes with Manga Studio out of the box.

What is Dark Souls? Let’s pretend I’ve never heard of it.

It’s an action RPG by developer Fromsoft. It’s arguably a western-style RPG (despite being made by a Japanese studio) like, say, your Elder Scrolls but the design sensibilities are very different. Dark Souls is built more for depth than breadth, if that makes sense. The games are known for being difficult, and to be honest I didn’t try any Souls games for years because of that. I’m not typically good at video games. I’m not good at Dark Souls either but it’s rarely unfairly difficult so I can still manage and enjoy it.

Also just the games are just really well designed in terms of the levels and the gameplay, and they do a lot of cool things in terms of the storytelling and characters. I’d generally recommend people give the Souls games a try even if they don’t typically like hard games. There’s a lot of other things to like. The PC version of Dark Souls 1 is pretty affordable too. I think I payed $7 for it on Steam.

If I haven’t played Dark Souls will I still be able to follow the comic?

I hope so! The comic is intended to be an adaptation of the first game, though I am planning to change some things. The story in the game is told mostly through the environment, NPC dialogue, and the flavor text on the items. So it’s a bit like a puzzle with some of the pieces missing. I’m going to have to add, omit, and reinterpret a lot of things to make it work in a comic format. I’m planning to keep things as compatible with the source material as I can but the comic should not be used as any kind of guide for what is or isn’t canon.

I’d still suggest people play the game themselves. But if you can’t or don’t want to there’s a lot of Let’s Plays for the games on YouTube. The one from the Extra Credits guys is what first got me interested in the game. It’s a mostly blind playthrough though so he does miss a lot. Also I would highly recommend EpicNameBro’s series, it’s extremely thorough as both a gameplay walkthrough and in terms of the story and lore. It’s excellent and contains a lot of stuff I would never have seen otherwise.

I have played Dark Souls and don’t like your interpretation of something.

That’s fine. The game is intended to be open to interpretation after all. That’s one of the things I love about it and I’m open to discussions about different ideas about things. Just don’t be a dick about it and we’re cool. Cool?

You changed something from the game in a way I don’t like.

That’s fine. It’s a piece of fanfiction and not everyone will like it. I have also read fanfiction that I did not like.

I personally believe that adaptations should change things to suit their respective media. There are things that a game does well than a comic can’t do and vice versa. Usually I change things for that reason, but sometimes I might change something because I think it’s fun or interesting. Disagreement is fine. Just don’t be a dick about it.

Hey don’t you draw a lot of gay comics?/Is this a gay comic?

Yes.

I don’t like that.

Just don’t be a dick about it.

What if I want to be a dick about something?

Don’t do it here or I will revoke your comment privileges. You can do that on your own blog or social media or whatever.